Rosberg warns Verstappen over safety of F1 drivers' title

Nico Rosberg has questioned whether Red Bull and Max Verstappen "understand" what is happening at Monza, after the Dutchman qualified seventh for the Italian Grand Prix.

The 2016 drivers' champion labelled the result "shocking" and contended that these are "dark, dark times" for the Milton Keynes squad and its star driver.

To Rosberg, the inability to get on top of tyre preparation during qualifying is ultimately what is costing Red Bull in Northern Italy.

Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez will line up alongside him in eighth position and the pair were out-qualified by both McLarens, Mercedes' and Ferraris.

"It's shocking, it's unbelievable where Verstappen is," said the 39-year-old on Sky Sports F1.

"This weekend I'm pretty sure they don't understand the tyres and what's going on there.

"That's dark, dark times there. Max [Verstappen] doesn't understand and it's all going away from them, which is so unexpected. It's really surreal."

Both championships will 'slip away'

Not only must Red Bull fight from the fourth row of the grid, McLaren took a dominant one-two in qualifying at Monza.

It was the McLaren team-mates' second such result in the grid-setting session in four rounds and leaves Red Bull with considerable work to do in the race to minimise the damage to its constructors' championship lead.

At just 30 points, the reigning champions may struggle to even retain the lead in the standings.

There has been a very real and looming risk that Red Bull might lose out to McLaren over the past few rounds, but Rosberg believes the drivers' championship could slip away.

Verstappen is 70 points clear of pole-sitter Lando Norris, but if both finish where they start in the grand prix, they will leave Monza with the deficit cut to 51, with eight rounds to go.

"That is such a tough situation to be in for them, because also there can come panic very quickly," Rosberg contended.

"Both championships are starting to slip away, even the drivers' championship. If it continues like this, that will slip away very quickly."